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On Monday 28 July, the Washington and Lee University is going to unveil a new version of its Web site, which you can preview at this temporary URL.
Changes from the current site to the new one are not drastic or fundamental, but more cosmetic and organizational.
Lots of pages will have URL's different from their current ones, but we think (fingers crossed) that automatic forwarding will take of most of those issues.
If you notice any problems with the new site -- links not working, etc. -- please feel free to let me know.
We realize that this change likely will require quite a bit of trouble-shooting and tinkering over the next few weeks, but we have a goal of getting the site cleaned up by the time the students begin returning next month.
We also know that this change is likely to cause you and your students some inconvenience at some point and we apologize for that. If that happens, please just let us know how we can help.
Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Available online.
See the Table of Contents, along with a link to a PDF copy, on the right side of the page.
This study, by journalist Tyler Marshall and the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, "captures an industry in the grips of two powerful, but contradictory, forces. On one hand, financial pressures sap its strength and threaten its very survival. On the other, the rise of the web boosts its competitiveness, opens up innovative new forms of journalism, builds new bridges to readers and offers enormous potential for the future."
A link will be maintained on this library Web page.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
Available online.
"Growing numbers of Americans are reachable only by cell phone, and an even larger number who have both a landline and a cell phone may be "functionally cell-only" because of their phone use habits. The latest Pew Research Center national survey... finds that the overall estimate of voter presidential preference is modestly affected by whether or not the cell phone respondents are included."
A link will be maintained on this library Web page.
Human Rights Watch.
Available online.
"If you are one of the estimated 25,000 journalists planning to travel to China to cover the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, this guide is for you. It provides essential background information and concrete suggestions for how to address many of the challenges you can face as a working journalist in China. The guide also highlights Olympics-specific and broader human rights concerns that likely will be important stories during your stay."
A link will be maintained on this library Web page.
Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making.
Available online.
A multi-disciplinary team of reviewers from journalism, medicine, health services research and public health assesses the quality of health- or medical-related news stories, using a standardized rating system.
Links will be maintained in several locations in our Web site, including here.
National Bureau of Economic Research.
Available online. A printed copy is being added to the collection.
"In this paper we estimate the impact of press coverage on citizen knowledge, politicians' actions, and policy... Exploring the links in the causal chain of media effects -- voter information, politicians' actions and policy -- we find statistically significant and substantively important effects. Voters living in areas with less coverage of their U.S. House representative are less likely to recall their representative's name, and less able to describe and rate them. Congressmen who are less covered by the local press work less for their constituencies..."
Links will be maintained in several locations in our Web site, including here.